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Why Boycott?

The state of Israel was built on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners. A majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless.

Since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel's colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal, and called for effective remedies.

People of conscience in the world have historically fought the injustice of apartheid through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions. As in the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, we in the Hudson Valley support the Palestinians in their fight for justice.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

We started a website†www.DumpIsraelBonds.com†to be the center of a campaign to get unions to sell of their Israel bonds. Please take a look at it. We're gathering a list of union members willing to be "Supporters" of the site. There's no money obligation, just support for the idea that unions should not be owning bonds in a government that is so racist and anti-union.

On a Supporters page page we're going to list union member names with their union identification and an optional paragraph of biography or comment.

Examples

Stanley Heller AFT #1547, Central Labor Council delegate

Or Stanley Heller AFT #1547, Central Labor Council delegate

I've been in AFL-CIO unions for over 40 years (Retail Clerks, Machinists, Teachers) and a Central Labor Council delegate from the early '70's. It's a disgrace that unions would own bonds supporting a government that is racist, anti-union and violent. They should all be sold off immediately.

IF YOU'D LIKE TO BE LISTED AS A SUPPORTER WRITE BACK WITH YOUR NAME AND IDENTIFICATION AND (optional) paragraph: mail@TheStruggle.org

Thursday, December 10, 2009

UK Issues New Guidance on Labelling of Food from Illegal Israeli Settlements

British government calls on supermarkets to tell customers when they are buying food from Israeli settlements in West Bank by Ian Black, Middle East editor, and Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem The British government has for the first time called on all supermarkets to inform customers clearly when they are buying food produced by Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The new guidance on food labelling significantly increases UK pressure on Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, and increases the prospect of consumer boycotts. Israeli officials and settler leaders were tonight highly critical of the decision.

Until now, food has been simply labelled "Produce of the West Bank", but under the new, voluntary guidance issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), labels should in future give more information. It suggested they say "Israeli settlement produce" or "Palestinian produce".

Nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers live in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The British government and the European Union has repeatedly said Israel's settlement project is an "obstacle to peace" in the Middle East.

EU law already requires a distinction to be made between goods originating in Israel and those from the occupied territories, though pro-Palestinian campaigners say this is not always observed.

Separately, Defra said that traders would be committing an offence if they declared produce from the occupied Palestinian territories as "produce of Israel".

Produce grown in Israeli settlements include herbs sold in UK supermarkets, such as Waitrose, which chop them up, package them and label them as "West Bank" produce, making no distinction between Israelis and Palestinians. A total of 27 Israeli companies operating in settlements and exporting to the UK have been identified: their produce includes fruit, vegetables, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastic and metal items and textiles. Other retailers selling them include Tesco, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, John Lewis and B&Q.

Goods from inside Israel's 1967 borders are entitled to a preferential rate of import duty under an agreement with the EU. Palestinian goods from the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem also enjoy duty-free or reduced tariff treatment. Settlement products fall outside these two categories.

"This is emphatically not about calling for a boycott of Israel," a Foreign Office spokesman said. "We believe that would do nothing to advance the peace process. We oppose any such boycott of Israel. We believe consumers should be able to choose for themselves what produce they buy. We have been very clear both in public and in private that settlements are illegal and an obstacle to peace."

The Trades Union Congress general secretary, Brendan Barber, welcomed the public clarification that marking produce from illegal settlements on occupied territory as "produce of Israel" was against the law, but said the government should have gone further.

"Profiting from the goods produced in the illegal settlements is contrary to international law and they should be banned from sale in the European Union, as they are in Palestine. Trade in such goods undermines the viability of a sovereign Palestinian state and holds back the peace process."Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive, said: "We support the right of consumers to know the origin of the products they purchase. Trade with Israeli settlements - which are illegal under international law - contributes to their economic viability and serves to legitimise them. It is also clear from our development work in West Bank communities that settlements have led to the denial of rights and create poverty for many Palestinians."

Dani Dayan, the Argentinian-born leader of the Yesha Council, which represents Israeli settlers, said the decision was the "latest hostile step" from Britain. "Products from our communities in Judea and Samaria should be treated as any other Israeli product," he said, using an Israeli term for the West Bank.

Israeli officials said they feared this was a slide towards a broader boycott of Israeli goods. Yigal Palmor, Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, said his country's produce was being unfairly singled out.

"It looks like it is catering to the demands of those whose ultimate goal is the boycott of Israeli products," he said. "The message here will very likely be used by pro-boycott campaigners. It is a matter of concern."

He said the issue of different European customs tariffs should not extend to different labelling on supermarket shelves. "It is a totally different thing and not required by the EU."

Israel came under intense US pressure early this year to halt construction in settlements, but has only adopted a temporary, partial freeze. Palestinian leaders say they will not restart peace negotiations until there is a full settlement freeze in line with the US road map of 2003.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it welcomed the new guidance but urged Defra to go further: "The government must seek prosecutions of companies which smuggle settlement goods in under false labels. We have received many calls from people who were distressed when they bought goods labelled "Produce of the West Bank" because they thought they were aiding the Palestinian economy, then realised they were economically aiding Israel's illegal occupation.

"Particularly following Israel's massacre in Gaza, consumers have been shocked at Israel's war crimes and want to take action. They do not want to feel complicit in Israel's occupation by buying stolen goods."

Monday, December 7, 2009

Posted by RORCoalition on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 13:05 USACBI -- While there are many Israeli and multinational companies that benefit from apartheid, we put together this list to highlight ten specific companies to target.

Many of these produce goods in such a way that directly harms Palestinians — exploiting labor, developing technology for military operations, or supplying equipment for illegal settlements. Many are also the targets of boycotts for other reasons, like harming the environment and labor violations.

1. AHAVA This brand’s cosmetics are produced using salt, minerals, and mud from the Dead Sea — natural resources that are excavated from the occupied West Bank. The products themselves are manufactured in the illegal Israeli settlement Mitzpe Shalem. AHAVA is the target of CODEPINK’s “Stolen Beauty” campaign.

2. Delta Galil Industries Israel’s largest textiles manufacturer provides clothing and underwear for such popular brands as Gap, J-Crew, J.C. Penny, Calvin Klein, Playtex, Victoria’s Secret (see #10) and many others. Its founder and chairman Dov Lautman is a close associate of former Israeli President Ehud Barak. It has also been condemned by Sweatshop Watch for its exploitation of labor in other countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey.

3. Motorola While many of us know this brand for its stylish cellphones, did you know that it also develops and manufactures bomb fuses and missile guidance systems? Motorola components are also used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or “drones”) and in communications and surveillance systems used in settlements, checkpoints, and along the 490 mile apartheid wall. The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has launched the “Hang Up on Motorola” campaign.

4. L’Oreal / The Body Shop This cosmetics and perfume company is known for its investments and manufacturing activities in Israel, including production in Migdal Haemek, the “Silicon Valley” of Israel built on the land of Palestinian village Al-Mujaydil, which was ethnically cleansed in 1948. In 1998, a representative of L’Oreal was given the Jubilee Award by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for strengthening the Israeli economy.

5. Dorot Garlic and Herbs These frozen herbs that are sold at Trader Joe’s are shipped halfway around the world when they could easily be purchased locally. Trader Joe’s also sells Israeli Cous Cous and Pastures of Eden feta cheese that are made in Israel. QUIT, South Bay Mobilization, and other groups have targeted Trader Joe’s with a “Don’t Buy into Apartheid” campaign.

6. Estee Lauder This company’s chairman Ronald Lauder is also the chairman of the Jewish National Fund, a quasi-governmental organization that was established in 1901 to acquire Palestinian land and is connected to the continued building of illegal settlements. Estee Lauder’s popular brands include Clinique, MAC, Origins, Bumble & Bumble, Aveda, fragrance lines for top designers, and many others. They have been the target of QUIT’s “Estee Slaughter Killer Products” campaign.

7. Intel This technology company that manufactures computer processors and other hardware components employs thousands of Israelis and has exports from Israel totaling over $1 billion per year. They are one of Israel’s oldest foreign supporters, having established their first development center outside of the US in 1974 in Haifa. Al-Awda (the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition) has urged action against Intel for building a facility on the land of former village Iraq Al Manshiya, which was cleansed in 1949.

8. Sabra This brand of hummus, baba ghanoush and other foods is co-owned by Israel’s second-largest food company The Strauss Group and Pepsico. On the “Corporate Responsibility” section of its website, The Strauss Group boasts of its relationship to the Israeli Army, offering food products and political support.

9. Sara Lee Sara Lee holds a 30% stake in Delta Galil (see #2) and is the world’s largest clothing manufacturer, which owns or is affiliated with such brands as Hanes, Playtex, Champion, Leggs, Sara Lee Bakery, Ball Park hotdogs, Wonderbra, and many others. Similar to L’Oreal (see #4), a representative of Sara Lee received the Jubilee Award from Netanyahu for its commitment to business with Israel.

10. Victoria’s Secret Most of Victoria’s Secret’s bras are produced by Delta Galil (see #2), and much of the cotton is also grown in Israel on confiscated Palestinian land. Victoria’s Secret has also been the target of labor rights’ groups for sourcing products from companies with labor violations, and by environmental groups for their unsustainable use of paper in producing their catalogues. That’s not sexy!

Remember, it’s also important to let these companies — and the stores that sell them — know that we will not support them as long as they support Israeli apartheid!

Monday, November 16, 2009

ISRAELI PRODUCTS FROM OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: MINISTER AGREES TO SP REQUEST TO INVESTIGATE
November 13th, 2009 • Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has agreed to a request from SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel to begin an enquiry into the import of cosmetic products from Israeli firm AHAVA. The company manufactures cosmetics in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement on the West Bank, using minerals and mud from the River Jordan. The products are exported under the label 'Made in Israel’. “I'm pleased that this enquiry is to be conducted," says Van Bommel. "If it confirms all we've been told, then I'll be calling for a boycott of these products. This sort of practice is in conflict with international law, which forbids an occupying power from selling the products of an occupied people under its own name. It stands in the way of a fair, honest and just solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”

In the Netherlands a group called the Badjassen Brigade, which organises protests against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, has held demonstrations outside the shops where AHAVA products are sold, under the campaign title 'Gestolen Schoonheid', Stolen Beauty. The action group is also trying to prevent AHAVA from developing a network of sales points in the Netherlands, an endeavour in which the firm enjoys the cooperation of a weekly television programme, Health Angels, broadcast on commercial television channel RTL4. It has been a thorn in the side of human rights activists for some years that many products from the Occupied Territories are exported under the Israeli flag, making profits for the occupier.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Rivage is the brand name of a Jordanian line of cosmetics based on minerals from the Dead Sea. Their skin and hair care products are produced by Al-Mawared Natural Beauty Products Corporation in Amman. I just sent off an e-mail asking for the names of retailers in NYS and east coast distributors of the line.

Friday, October 2, 2009

This fall, as college students return to campus, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, in partnership with Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine, is organizing a five-city boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) tour across the country.

Ever since the dynamic student organizers at Hampshire got their university to divest from corporations supporting Israeli occupation and apartheid, we have been planning with them how to spread successful campus boycott and divestment campaigns to other campuses around the country.

In October, we're taking all of our research and resources on the road, stopping in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Amherst to spark and strengthen BDS campaigns. Support this tour by clicking here to make a tax-deductible donation now.

The energy at our recent national organizers' conference demonstrated that now is the time to move forward with focused, strategic BDS work. Experts as diverse as Omar Barghouti (of PACBI) and Howard Kohr (of AIPAC) agree that we are at a critical moment for BDS. You can help make this tour a success and help spread the BDS movement in the United States by clicking here..

The US Campaign's National Organizer, organizers from Hampshire SJP, and other experts will offer skills-building workshops and hold public events free of charge at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (Oct 7-10), Emory University (Oct 18-20), the University of Pittsburgh (Oct 22-24), and the Ohio State University (Oct 23-25). Finally, we're partnering with Hampshire SJP to present at their national campus BDS conference in Amherst Nov. 20-22nd. These conferences will offer students and faculty the skills and knowledge they need to launch and sustain successful boycott and divestment campaigns on their campuses and in their communities. With your support we will continue this organizing effort at campuses in California, North Carolina, and Virginia in the spring.

Learn more about the US Campaign's effort to bring BDS organizing resources and trainings to campuses across the United States by clicking here. To register for a campus BDS conference in your area email the US Campaign's National Organizer here. Find out more about the national BDS conference at Hampshire College this November here

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

This fall, as college students return to campus, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, in partnership with Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine, is organizing a five-city boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) tour across the country.

Ever since the dynamic student organizers at Hampshire got their university to divest from corporations supporting Israeli occupation and apartheid, we have been planning with them how to spread successful campus boycott and divestment campaigns to other campuses around the country.

In October, we're taking all of our research and resources on the road, stopping in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Amherst to spark and strengthen BDS campaigns. Support this tour by clicking here to make a tax-deductible donation now.

The energy at our recent national organizers' conference demonstrated that now is the time to move forward with focused, strategic BDS work. Experts as diverse as Omar Barghouti (of PACBI) and Howard Kohr (of AIPAC) agree that we are at a critical moment for BDS. You can help make this tour a success and help spread the BDS movement in the United States by clicking here.

The US Campaign's National Organizer, organizers from Hampshire SJP, and other experts will offer skills-building workshops and hold public events free of charge at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (Oct 7-10), Emory University (Oct 18-20), the University of Pittsburgh (Oct 22-24), and the Ohio State University (Oct 23-25). Finally, we're partnering with Hampshire SJP to present at their national campus BDS conference in Amherst Nov. 20-22nd. These conferences will offer students and faculty the skills and knowledge they need to launch and sustain successful boycott and divestment campaigns on their campuses and in their communities. With your support we will continue this organizing effort at campuses in California, North Carolina, and Virginia in the spring.

Learn more about the US Campaign's effort to bring BDS organizing resources and trainings to campuses across the United States by organizer@endtheoccupation.org. To register for a campus BDS conference in your area email the US Campaign's National Organizer organizer@endtheoccupation.org. Find out more about the national BDS conference at HampshireCollege this November organizer@endtheoccupation.org.

Spain's government today said it had expelled a group of Israeli scientists from a state-funded solar energy competition because they were based in occupied areas of the West Bank.

The decision to expel the team from the Ariel University Centre of Samaria from Solar Decathlon Europe, an international competition involving 20 universities, provoked angry reactions in Israel.

The Israeli team had been selected as one of the 20 finalists in a competition to design solar-powered housing that is part-sponsored by the US energy department. Spain is hosting the first European version of the event next year and claims ultimate say over who takes part.

"This university is in the occupied territories and all the ministry has done is apply the policy of the European Union," a housing ministry spokesman said. "The EU does not recognise the occupation of the West Bank which is where this university is."

The Israeli university replied that it "rejects with disgust the one-sided announcement we received from the Spanish housing ministry".

It claimed the decision both "contravenes international law and international charters on academic freedom" and harms 10,000 students at the university, including 500 Arabs.

It was only after the Israeli project joined the group of finalists, which include the University of Nottingham, that officials at Spain's housing ministry were made aware that the university was in the West Bank.

Both the Israelis and the US energy department were advised of the decision over a week ago.

The Israeli team had described their "stretch house" project as being inspired by the Tent of Abraham. "It is adaptable according to its owner's wishes and is able to expand and create hospitable spaces," they said. "In its closed state when additional space is not required, it uses only half the energy necessary to operate a regular house."

Spain had been under pressure from pro-Palestinian groups which claimed that allowing the Israeli university to take part was a breach of international law.

They said that the university was located in the Ariel settlement, the second biggest zone in Israel's expanding West Bank presence.

In a letter to housing minister Beatriz Corredor, Fayeq Kishawi, coordinator of a Palestinian campaign group against the settlements, said: "As somebody suffering like the others from Ariel's continuous 'stretching' I wonder how the Solar Decathlon can accept a project submitted by an institution that has stolen our land and will build its project on our stolen land."

Spain has recently been at the centre of complaints by Jewish groups who claim that anti-Semitism there is on the rise.

A decision by El Mundo newspaper to publish an interview with Holocaust-denying historian David Irving angered the Israeli ambassador, Raphael Schutz, who claimed it showed a lack of moral and ethical judgement.

The ambassador has been subject to racial abuse on the streets of Madrid, where he was recently approached by three men who shouted "dirty Jew," "Jew bastard" and "Jewish dog".

A report this week by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League complained of what it claimed was a rise in anti-Semitism across Spain and, especially, in its mainstream media.

"We are deeply concerned about the mainstreaming of anti-Semitism in Spain, with more public expressions and greater public acceptance of classic stereotypes," said the league's director, Abraham H Foxman.

"Among the major European countries, only in Spain have we seen viciously anti-Semitic cartoons in the mainstream media, and street protests where Israel is accused of Genocide and Jews are vilified and compared to Nazis."

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Boycott is Israel’s weakest point. To be de-normalized – they hate that. It’s what Palestinians want – the overwhelming call of civil society.

BDS needs to be implemented with context, sensitivity, gradualism, and flexibility. The accusation that BDS is anti-Semitic is in itself anti-Semitic, insofar as it equates Israel with Judaism. BDS is a human rights campaign, led by Jews and Palestinians, based in solid precedent.

BDS is also an educational tool – not a campaign to do after education gets you there. It provoked debate in UK, moving things forward. Should we wait? Go tell Brand Israel to wait.

South Africa took 27 years, from the call for boycott in 1959.

Apartheid is not just a South African phenomenon. The UN defined it in 1973, and reaffirmed in 2002 as one of 11 recognized crimes against humanity.

Academic/cultural:

It is an institutional boycott, not on individuals. End institutional links with Israeli universities.Bir Zeit was closed for four years, in the 1^st intifada – where’s the academic freedom?The wall and settlements were designed at Israeli universities.

Weapons are designed at Tel Aviv U. So was the Doctrine of Disproportionate Force. (You can’t defeat Hezbollah, so destroy the Lebanese infrastructure, hurt the population, turn them against Hezbollah.)No academic institution or association has taken a position against the occupation.

A petition to /ease restrictions/ on Palestinian students at checkpoints was singed by only 407 of 9,000 Israeli academics.

Dance companies, musicians, films are sent abroad as part of “Brand Israel,” to clean up tarnished image. Even projects critical of the state are funded by the state. For example, the film “Lemon Tree” was sent to the San Antonio Film Festival by the government. Films merely funded by the government are not boycotted, except if funded to tour, for festivals, etc.

Culture is often cast in the context of “co-existence.” But co-existence comes with equality, not apartheid.Trader Joe’s carries three Israeli products we know of:

Dorot Frozen Herbs, Israeli Cous Cous, Pastures of Eden Israeli Feta.

We boycott the state, not the manifestation. You don’t boycott Sudanese products made in Darfur. 80% of the Israeli economy is somehow profiting from settlements.

Science:

Individual scientists can work together, but not through institutional sponsorships.International institutions with Israeli participation: don’t boycott them, but pressure them to sever Israeli participation.

South Africa was a blanket boycott. This makes sense because we don’t wish to repeat McCarthyism. We don’t judge people’s views but their institutional loyalties.

NEW YORK CITY -- The Israeli cosmetics company, Ahava, which illegally manufactures and appropriates its products in occupied Palestinian territory, has dropped its spokesperson Kristin Davis amid a public relations debacle sparked by the peace group CODEPINKís Stolen Beauty campaign.

As Gawker.com http://gawker.com/5351985/cosmetics-company-uses-kristin-davis-and-then-kicks-h er-out first reported yesterday, 'Sex & the City' star Kristin Davis has been dropped by Ahava. All trace of her image and mention of her name have already been removed from Ahava's website.

Davis' dismissal, and the accompanying blow to Ahava's image, follow the successful launch of CODEPINK's Stolen Beauty campaign designed to spread word of Ahava's illegal practices -- its products are falsely labeled as "Made in Israel" but in actuality are made in an illegal settlement in occupied Palestinian territory, and often contain resources appropriated from occupied land, in clear violation of international law.

For the past two months CODEPINK activists have been appearing at Ahava stores, trade booths, and online, spreading word of Ahava's illegal business practices (view photos and publicity at www.stolenbeauty.org ). Particularly newsworthy was Davis' dual role as Ahava spokesperson and as a goodwill ambassador for the international charity Oxfamóa group that has courageously spoken out against the illegal Israeli settlement trade. First, CODEPINK activists reached out to Davis http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-code-pink-snubbed-by-sex-and-the- city-star-kristin-davis-r-1244746975 to dissuade her from continuing her paid promotional appearances for Ahava. When that failed, public pressure forced Oxfam to suspend Davis from publicity work for the charity. The glare of publicity, including a story on Page 6 of the New York Post http://www.nypost.com/seven/08062009/gossip/pagesix/sex_star__oxfam_part_ways_1

83164. htm), surrounding that controversy appears now to have helped make untenable Ahava's P.R. campaign centered on Davis.

While Davis' apparent hypocrisy served as a convenient initial lightning rod for mobilizing the Stolen Beauty campaign, and has helped generate enormous press coverage of Ahava's crimes, the campaign has yet to begin to reach its full force. In a few weeks, another wave of activity (and a whole new pressure point for Ahava) will be unveiled. In the meantime, though, CODEPINK activists celebrate this first small victory, and the enormous increase in consumer awareness it has focused on Ahava's illegal practices.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Africa Israel Investments stock plummeted after the real estate firm said it could not repay billions of dollars in debt.

Sunday's announcement by the company, owned by Russian-Jewish billionaire Lev Leviev, caused shares to drop 25.5 percent on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The stock fell another 13.7 percent Monday as the firm floated the idea of renegotiating the terms of its debts with bond holders and banks.

"Our main mistake was the investments in the U.S.," said Leviev, a diamond baron now living in England, told Israel's business daily Globes.

Africa Israel bought The New York Times building in Manhattan in April 2007 at a cost of $525 million, but the property has depreciated 40 percent because of the world economic crisis, Ha'aretz reported.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Monday that the Israeli government would not intervene to help Leviev, whose company has faced boycotts because a subsidiary is involved in constructing homes in West Bank Jewish settlements.

Leviev is a major philanthropist for Jewish causes in the former Soviet Union and Israel.

Friday, July 31, 2009

There is a Jewish teaching: "Thou shall not derive personal pleasure or benefit from any product created through exploitation." AHAVA, an Israeli cosmetics company, is violating the basic principles of international law and Jewish ethics by profiting from the occupation of Palestine. Using resources from the ancient waters of the Dead Sea, AHAVA manufactures beauty products in an illegal Israeli settlement in Occupied Palestine.

As one of the first practicing women rabbis, as a Jew and as concerned human being, I endorse CODEPINK's new campaign to boycott AHAVA.

For over 40 years, I have been working to promote justice and reconciliation in the Middle East. I have watched more settlements, walls and checkpoints being built, and more Palestinians arrested and ground down by poverty, hunger, illness and oppression. After decades of working for peace through dialogue, I've come to believe that it's time to apply new tactics. It's time for us to listen to the Israeli and Palestinian peace activists who are calling on us to boycott Israeli products made in Occupied Palestine. It's time to take the profit out of the occupation.

Join me in boycotting AHAVA. Pass this message to your friends and neighbors: The fruits of occupation are simply not kosher!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

If you take a look at Ahavaís web site, you can read about the company's environmentally responsible practices: "Our manufacturing processes are non-polluting and environmentally conscious. No animals are involved in testing phases and all of our products are encased in recyclable tubes, bottles and jars." Ahavaís spokeswoman is fresh-faced Sex & The City actress Kristin Davis, whose commitment to doing good is evidenced by her status as an Oxfam Goodwill Ambassador and her position on the advisory board of The Masai Wilderness Conservation Fund. On the Ahava site, Davis is quoted as saying, "My personal beliefs, which include treating both animals and the environment with respect, are equally important to AHAVA."

If you navigate around the web site you will see pristine images of the Dead Sea, enticing products with beautifully designed labels, and a photo of a water lily leaf with the caption, "This leaf has nothing to hide." But, unfortunately, Ahava does have something to hideóan ugly secret about its relationship to a brutal occupation. The Hebrew word "Ahava" means love, but there is nothing loving about what the company is doing in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Ahava is an Israeli profiteer exploiting the natural resources of occupied Palestine.

AHAVA Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli cosmetics company, has situated its main manufacturing plant and showroom at the Israeli Jewish settlement Mitzpe Shalem in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank near the shores of the Dead Sea. Mitzpe Shalem, built on occupied land in 1970, is an illegal settlement, as are all Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Ahavaís capture of Palestinian natural resources from the Dead Sea is, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, a patently illegal use by an occupying power of stolen resources for its own profit. To add insult to injury, Ahavaís labels claim that the country of origin of its products is ìThe Dead Sea, Israelîóthis type of labeling has been decried by Oxfam, among other human rights groups, as blatantly misleading.

While we were working on putting together the new AHAVA boycott campaign we called STOLEN BEAUTY, CODEPINK led several delegations to Gaza, one of which never made it into the Strip because the Israeli government wouldnít let them through the Erez crossing. Several CODEPINK activists decided to take a fact-finding mission to the Ahava plant in the West Bank, corroborating what we had read about the plantís location and its practices. The women decided to seize the opportunity andówith the avid encouragement of the Israeli Jewish and Palestinian peace activists that they had metóthey went to the Ahava store at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv to stage a protest action. Some put on bikinis, wrote on their bodies with mud NO AHAVA/NO LOVE, while others carried signs with slogans such as ìThere is no love in occupation.î They chanted, sang and made the Israeli evening news.

About a week later, we heard that Kristin Davis was going to be at Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue promoting Ahava products and signing autographs. Two of us went to the store to deliver a letter to Davis, requesting she stop letting Ahava use her beautiful face and good name to cover up their crimes. She was less than receptive, and we were escorted out of the store. A week later, the CODEPINK bikini brigade showed up at the ìTel Aviv Beach Partyîópart of the Israeli governmentís multi-million dollar ìRe-brand Israelî campaignóin New Yorkís Central Park. The bikinis and our anti-occupation message made Fox News.

We recently sent letters to Ahavaís headquarters in Holon, Israel, as well as to Ahava USA and Kristen Davis, giving them notice of our boycott. We sent copies of these letters to Shamrock Holdings, the investment company of the Roy E. Disney family, which owns 19% of Ahavaís shares. On Monday of this week, CODEPINK women showed up in bikinis and mud at the Cosmoprof North America Trade Show in Las Vegas to let Ahava representatives know we were launching our STOLEN BEAUTY campaign.

We have sent letters to over 100 retailers requesting that they stop stocking Ahava products because Ahava helps finance the destruction of hope for a peaceful and just future for both Israelis and Palestinians. In August weíll be outside a drugstore, department store or mall near you, exposing Ahavaís dirty secrets and showing that real beauty is more than skin deep. You can go to www.stolenbeauty.org to find out how to join our campaign. And you donít have to wear a bikini to do it.

Check out photos from CodePink's protests in New York, Las Vegas and Tel Aviv.

Last month, prominent academics from the British Committee for Universities of Palestine, BRICUP [1], urged you not to perform in Israel, arguing: “If you had just emerged from three weeks of unfettered bombing from land, sea and air, with no place to hide and no place to run, your hospitals overwhelmed, sewage running in the streets and white phosphorous burning up your children, what would the news that the great Canadian musician Leonard Cohen had decided to play for your tormentors say to you?” Citing a line in your famous poem, Questions for Shomrim, where you exclaim, "And will my people build a new Dachau and call it love, security, Jewish culture," a recent letter by mostly Israeli activists who support the cultural boycott [2] against Israel urged you not to cooperate with “continued Israeli defiance of justice and morality.” [3]

Today, after exhausting all attempts to convince you to apply your avowed humanistic principles in a morally consistent way by refusing to entertain Israeli apartheid and whitewash its still-fresh crimes, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls on all supporters of a just peace in our region to shun your concerts and CDs and to protest your appearances everywhere. We consider your performance in Israel a form of complicity in its grave violations of international law and trampling on human rights principles.

Your planned gig in Israel would come merely months after its bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip which left over 1,440 Palestinians dead, of whom 431 were children, and 5380 injured. [4] The 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the overwhelming majority of whom are refugees who were expelled from their homes by Zionist forces in 1948, were subjected to three weeks of relentless Israeli state terror, whereby Israeli warplanes systematically targeted civilian areas, reducing whole neighborhoods and vital civilian infrastructure to rubble and partially destroying Gaza’s leading university and scores of schools, including several run by the UN, where civilians were taking shelter. This criminal assault comes after 18 months of an ongoing, crippling Israeli siege of Gaza which has shattered all spheres of life, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to describe it as “a prelude to genocide”. International human rights organizations and UN organizations are now calling for a war crimes investigation into Israel’s military assault on Gaza.

For the last 41 years, Israel’s army has been occupying the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Despite the “peace process” which began 16 years ago, Israel routinely violates the Palestinians’ most fundamental human rights with impunity, as documented by local and international human rights organizations. Israel extra-judicially kills Palestinian leaders and activists; keeps over 11,000 Palestinians imprisoned, including numerous members of parliament; subjects all Palestinians under occupation to daily humiliation, intimidation and military violence; and continues to construct its colonial Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague in 2004.

You claim that your performance in Israel will somehow have a healing effect. Your message of healing cannot be more misdirected – those who need healing and solidarity the most are the Palestinian victims of Israel apartheid and colonial rule who are struggling to end oppression and injustice and to establish a just peace. By violating the Palestinian boycott against Israel you would bring back the ugly memory of artists who violated the boycott against apartheid South Africa and insisted to perform at Sun City, drawing condemnation and revulsion by people of conscience the world over.

As far back as 1984, Enuga S. Reddy, Director of the UN Centre Against Apartheid, responded to criticism that the cultural boycott of South Africa infringed the freedom of expression, saying [5]:

“It is rather strange, to say the least, that the South African regime which denies all freedoms ... to the African majority ... should become a defender of the freedom of artists and sportsmen of the world. We have a list of people who have performed in South Africa because of ignorance of the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism. They need to be persuaded to stop entertaining apartheid, to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime.”

Entertaining any apartheid regime is morally wrong. No true humanist should disagree.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

Friday, June 26, 2009

Author Naomi Klein Calls for Boycott of Israel

BILIN , West Bank - Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

Bestselling Canadian author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters. 'Boycott is a tactic . . . we're trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa,' she said. (Photograph by: John Kenney, National Post)

"It's a boycott of Israeli institutions, it's a boycott of the Israeli economy," the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel's controversial separation wall.

"Boycott is a tactic . . . we're trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa," said Klein, the author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

"It's an extraordinarily important part of Israel's identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy," the Canadian writer and activist said.

"When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don't come, when the symphonies don't come, when a film you really want to see doesn't play at the Jerusalem film festival . . . then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is."

She briefly joined about 200 villagers and foreign activists protesting the barrier which Israel says it needs to prevent attacks, but which Palestinians say aims at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.

She then watched from a safe distance as the protesters reached the fence, where Israeli forces fired teargas and some youths responded by throwing stones at the army.

"This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation," Klein said adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against Jewish protesters.

She pointed out that her visit coincided with court hearings in Quebec in a case where the villagers of Bilin are suing two Canadian companies, accusing them of illegally building and selling homes to Israelis on land that belongs to the village.

The plaintiffs claim that by building in the Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit, near Bilin, Green Park International and Green Mount International are in violation of international laws that prohibit an occupying power from transferring some of its population to the lands it occupies.

"I'm hoping and praying that Canadian courts will bring some justice to the people of Bilin," Klein said.

Her visit was also part of a promotional tour in Israel and the West Bank for "The Shock Doctrine" which has recently been translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Klein said she would get no royalties from sales of the Hebrew version and that the proceeds would go instead to an activist group.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

International campaigns of BDS against corporations profiting from Israeli human rights abuses of Palestinians are starting to take effect, from Hampshire College divesting from Israeli occupation, to the Church of England divesting from Caterpillar, to Veolia pulling out of the Jerusalem light rail project.

Over the past six months, we've stepped up our corporate BDS campaigns against Motorola and Caterpillar by sending hundreds of BDS organizing packets around the country, by organizing BDS days of action during Israeli Apartheid Week and Rachel Corrie Day, and during these corporations' annual shareholder meetings. In fact, today we're in Chicago working with allies on the ground to organize a protest at Caterpillar's shareholder meeting.

Making Our Voices Heard. Over the last six months, we've greatly expanded our ability to get our perspective into the mainstream media. Our staff and members of our Steering Committee and Advisory Board have been featured in the following media: The New York Times, NBC News, The Detroit Free Press, Al-Jazeera, Democracy Now!, The Black Commentator, Radio Islam, Arab American News, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and many more.

We've also paid for advertisements seen by millions of people in The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, Congressional Quarterly, and dozens of blogs. Speaking of blogs, we've also recently createdour own blog featuring unique content, and also expanded our new media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube.

Monday, June 22, 2009

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation coordinated "Hang up on Motorola" Campaign

Motorola is looking to divest itself from its Israeli cell phone division, MIRS, according to a http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/StockNews/2368211/ report in Israeli business newspaper, Globes. The announcement comes only two months after the US telecom firm announced it had sold a controversial unit that produced bomb fuses and other equipment for the Israeli military.

Motorola’s dealings with Israel and its army has made it the subject of boycott campaigns by human rights activists in Europe and North America over the past few years. The boycott campaign’s impact was especially felt by Motorola after Israel’s aggression against the Gaza Strip in December and January in which more than 1400 Palestinians were killed the massive bombardment of the densely populated strip.

MIRS, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola is the sole provider of wireless services for the Israeli Occupation Forces. Despite the divestment of two Israeli divisions, Motorola maintains several operations in Israel, including several R&D facilities and joint ventures with Israeli businesses.

The divestment announcement coincides with http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/08/75238.html another by Veolia Transportation that it is looking to sell off its share of the project to construct and operate a light rail system between predominantly Jewish neighborhoods and settlements around Jerusalem. The French firm had lost over $7 billion in EU contracts as a result of pressure by human rights activists in a coordinated campaign that sought to end its relationship with Israel.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Jim Owens Says "If you don't like how CAT does business, you don't have to hold your shares."

Dear Fred,

Last week, Caterpillar's board members faced shareholders, including our allies from Jewish Voice for Peace, the Sisters of Loretto, and Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine. The US Campaign's National Organizer attended and spoke at the meeting as well, on behalf of shareholder Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights. Inside the meeting Matan Cohen of Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine spoke on behalf of a resolution that would require Caterpillar to report on foreign sales of weapons related products. During the Q&A portion of the meeting our allies repeatedly demanded to know why CAT continues to risk legal action and alienate investors by providing Israel with the machinery of occupation and apartheid. Repeatedly, Caterpillar CEO, Jim Owens, told those in attendance that if they don't like the way Caterpillar operates, then they don't have to hold on to their stock.

At the end of the meeting, one shareholder who was previously unfamiliar with Caterpillar's complicity in occupation and apartheid confided that his retirement had already been hit hard by corporations which have made bad P.R. moves or lost law suits. On his way out of the meeting, he stated that he would follow Jim Owens' advice to divest of Caterpillar stock. We are thrilled by the success of Jim Owens' endorsement of divestment! Click here to help us spread this message.

We got our message to people outside of the meeting through the media and public protest. View our media hits, including the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Forbes, Democracy Now!, and several local radio stations, by clicking here. Unfortunately, after a lengthy exchange, the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times both rejected our online ad, which we wanted to place on their websites during the CAT shareholder meeting. But we won't accept this censorship. We're going to use contributions from supporters like you to place this ad on blogs and Facebook, educating even more people about our campaign. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to amplify our message online. Each $50 that you donate will inform 80 targeted Facebook users about our campaign. Every $200 will ensure that our blog ad educates 4500 new people about our effective boycott and divestment campaign, which sheds light on Caterpillar's complicity in human rights and international law violations in Israel/Palestine.

US Campaign supporters and member groups rallied outside of the shareholder meeting, educating passersby and the media about CAT's culpability for war crimes in Palestine/Israel. The Church of England and Hampshire College divesting from Caterpillar aren't the only recent victories for the global boycott and divestment movement. French company Violia recently bowed to human rights advocates and withdrew from the Jerusalem Light Rail project that would connect West Bank settlements to West Jerusalem via commuter rail. Similar European campaigns forced international financier Dexia to end its support for Israeli settlements on Occupied Palestinian Territory.

STOP CATERKILLER.

Our blog ads will spread this same message that corporations cannot profit from war crimes. Click here to educate savvy investors about the spreading divestment movement targeting Caterpillar through our blog ads. Our Facebook ads will reach students at campuses to be visited on our October Campus Boycott & Divestment Organizing Tour. Help us use Caterpillar's own words to hold them accountable, make a tax deductible donation to our online advertising campaign now.

You can also continue this campaign's momentum by clicking here to order a local campaign kit to organize Caterpillar boycott and divestment in your community.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Last week we asked you to help us send 2,000 emails to Motorola's CEO and VP of Investor Relations. You responded, and now we're only 30 emails away from our goal!

After a year of the Hang Up On Motorola boycott campaign, Motorola's management still doesn't understand that they are responsible for their products systematically being used to violate Palestinian rights. While it can take a while to get through to executives, ordinary people are more receptive, and our campaign has been gaining traction in the media, with investors, and consumers. Help us get the message through to Motorola's management. Click here to send them an email.

Last year, our shareholding allies won 12% approval for their human rights resolution at the Motorola shareholders' meeting. This year, a group of US Campaign supporters will be educating shareholders about this important resolution and hope to increase support to 20% of all Moto shareholders. Click here to read the resolution that would require Motorola to respect human rights and international law, including the laws that prohibit Israeli settlements and the building of the apartheid wall on Palestinian land.

Even if you can't be with us at the shareholders' meeting in Chicago, you can still join the pressure campaign by clicking here to send an email to Motorola's CEO and VP of Investor Relations, demanding they take action to end Motorola's support for Israel's violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.

Help us smash our goal of 2,000 emails to Motorola executives by the time the shareholder meeting begins (4pm central time today). Your message will still send an important signal about corporate social responsibility, even if it gets to Motorola's management team after the shareholders' meeting, so please don't hesitate to take action!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Last week we found out that Motorola has met our first boycott demand - they no longer sell the Israeli military bomb fuses. Instead of resting on our laurels, we need to seize this opportunity to push twice as hard on our other demands. Now is the time to strengthen our campaign.

We want everyone to be able to help hang up on Motorola so we've come up with six different ways to take action - everything from creative arts, to public protest, to sustaining us financially, to just clicking a button will help us force Motorola's hand at this crucial time.

1. Win up to $500 by using your creativity to make a 30 second to two minute video turning a Motorola advertisement around to tell the truth about Moto's ongoing support for Israel's occupation and apartheid practices.

2. Protest on May 4th. Motorola's annual shareholder meeting will be in Chicago on May 4th. The US Campaign and our allies will be pressuring those profiting most directly from Moto's crimes in Palestine/Israel both inside and outside the meeting. Our shareholding allies will be supporting a human rights resolution in the meeting and the US Campaign will be coordinating a presence outside of the meeting.

4. Organize the Hang Up On Motorola boycott in your area. Sign up here to get a campaign kit with everything you will need to work as a group or an individual to hold Motorola accountable for their role in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

5. Make a tax-deductible donation to support our boycott & divestment campaigns. Our first campaign victory was sustained by donations from people like you.

6. Send an email to Motorola's CEO and VP for Investor Relations. Send an email asking Motorola's senior decision makers to explain why they work for profit at the expense of human rights for Palestinians.

Now that Motorola has sold its bomb fuse department we're happy to be able to check the first demand off of our list, but we know that the next victories will be even tougher. Stand with us as we continue working to pressure Motorola to stop selling communications equipment, including cell phones and radar detection devices, and surveillance equipment, including the "Stronghold Surveillance System," and components for drone interfaces used by the Israeli military.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Last week Motorola Israel, Ltd. sold its Government Electronics Department to Israeli military contractor Aeronautics Defense Systems. This means that Motorola will no longer be selling bomb fuses to the Israeli military. The first demand of our boycott has been met!

Support Hang Up On Motorola now and ensure that we will stay steadfast until Motorola stops profiting from Israel's human rights abuses and violations of international law. Make a $30 or greater contribution and we'll send you a poster featuring Parachutes Falling, the winning design from our Expressions of Nakba art competition. Make a $50 or greater donation and receive a DVD of Occupation 101*. Make a $100 or greater contribution and we'll send you both Parachutes Falling and Occupation 101*.

What does this sale mean for Hang Up On Motorola?

1) We have Moto on the run - we can win this boycott! The only stated motivation for this sale is that it "would enable Aeronautics to provide more comprehensive solutions to its customers," and, on its part, Motorola has declined to comment. Of course, we expect Motorola will be reticent to admit that our pressure had anything to do with this sale. Read more about how pressure from international boycott & divestment campaigns are affecting Israeli businesses http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=GFCBDanXldE2pFAXkozw9Pg6vBzXh%2Bae here.

2) Motorola is still responsible for the damage that their products have done. The "bomb family" that utilized Motorola fuses is responsible for the deaths of at least 28 civilians in Lebanon and Human Rights Watch recently found shrapnel with Motorola serial numbers on it at the site of a civilian building in Gaza bombed during Operation Cast Lead.

3) We must keep our pressure up! Even after this sale, Moto still makes myriad products used by the Israeli military to continue its occupation and enforcement of apartheid. Motorola Israel has ongoing contracts with the Israeli military, both independently of and jointly with Aeronautics Defense Systems. These contracts include military communications systems and surveillance systems for Israel's apartheid wall and illegal settlements. Motorola Israel's subsidiary, MIRS, also makes mobile phones exclusively for Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This sort of business reinforces norms of apartheid and cannot be tolerated.

Israeli companies are feeling the impact of boycott moves in Europe, according to surveys, amid growing concern within the Israeli business sector over organised campaigns following the recent attack on Gaza.

Last week, the Israel Manufacturers Association reported that 21% of 90 local exporters who were questioned had felt a drop in demand due to boycotts, mostly from the UK and Scandinavian countries. Last month, a report from the Israel Export Institute reported that 10% of 400 polled exporters received order cancellation notices this year, because of Israel's assault on Gaza.

"There is no doubt that a red light has been switched on," Dan Katrivas, head of the foreign trade department at the Israel Manufacturers Association, told Maariv newspaper this week. "We are closely following what's happening with exporters who are running into problems with boycotts." He added that in Britain there exists "a special problem regarding the export of agricultural produce from Israel".

The problem, said Katrivas, is in part the discussion in the UK over how to label goods that come from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Last week British government officials met with food industry representatives to discuss the issue.

In recent months, the Israeli financial press has reported the impact of mounting calls to boycott goods from the Jewish state. Writing in the daily finance paper, the Marker, economics journalist Nehemia Stressler berated then trade and industry minister Eli Yishai for telling the Israeli army to "destroy one hundred homes" in Gaza for every rocket fired into Israel.

The minister, wrote Stressler, did not understand "how much the operation in Gaza is hurting the economy".

Stressler added: "The horrific images on TV and the statements of politicians in Europe and Turkey are changing the behaviour of consumers, businessmen and potential investors. Many European consumers boycott Israeli products in practice."

He quoted a pepper grower who spoke of "a concealed boycott of Israeli products in Europe".

In February, another article in the Marker, titled "Now heads are lowered as we wait for the storm to blow over", reported that Israelis with major business interests in Turkey hoped to remain anonymous to avoid arousing the attention of pro-boycott groups.

The paper said that, while trade difficulties with Turkey during the Gaza assault received more media attention, Britain was in reality of greater concern.

Gil Erez, Israel's commercial attache in London, told the paper: "Organisations are bombarding [British] retailers with letters, asking that they remove Israeli merchandise from the shelves."

Finance journalists have reported that Israeli hi-tech, food and agribusiness companies suffered adverse consequences following Israel's three-week assault on Gaza, and called for government intervention to protect businesses from a growing boycott.

However, analysts stressed that the impact of a boycott on local exporters was difficult to discern amidst a global economic crisis and that such effects could be exaggerated.

"If there was something serious, I would have heard about it," said Avi Tempkin, from Globes, the Israeli business daily.

Israeli companies are thought to be wary of giving credence to boycott efforts by talking openly about their effect, preferring to resolve problems through diplomatic channels.

Consumer boycotts in Europe have targeted food produce such as Israeli oranges, avocados and herbs, while in Turkey the focus has been on agribusiness products such as pesticides and fertilisers.

The bulk of Israeli export is in components, especially hi-tech products such as Intel chips and flashcards for mobile phones. It is thought that the consumer goods targeted by boycott campaigns represent around 3% to 5% of the Israeli export economy.

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Starbucks boycott has had an impact on its bottom line and has sent them scurrying for cover…I personally have been boycotting Starbucks since the start of the Intifada due to the comments by its CEO and founder Howard Schultz…http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/11900

More damaging though, are the comments made by Schultz in a speech given to Jewish Americans at a synagogue on Seattle's Capitol Hill in April: "What is going on in the Middle East is not an isolated part of the world. The rise of anti-Semitism is at an all time high since the 1930's" he said, adding that "Palestinians aren't doing their job, they're not stopping terrorism." The hastily retracted comments - which received an ovation from the busy synagogue - have further added to the growing unease amongst concerned corporate watchers who are concerned that Schultz's growing reputation as a mouthpiece for Israeli propaganda could have an adverse effect on Starbucks business. Furthermore, Schultz has championed and funded defense of Israel on US University campuses. He “has been praised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry for allowing American students to hear "Israeli presentations on the Middle East crisis."

Regarding the chain linking (Aish HaTorah-Clarion Fund-producing anti-Islamic film Obsession-Aish HaTorah giving “Zion Award” to Howard Schlutz, Chairmen of Starbucks) here is more info including clips from St. Petersburg Times, Friday, September 26, 2008, by Meg Laughlin Howard Shultz was given "The Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award", by Aish HaTorah in 1998. That information was once displayed on the Starbucks’ website, but later removed after the boycott campaign gained momentum. The original page displaying the award can be seen in an archive link on the website, Boycott Israel Campaign: http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-starbucks.html

The Clarion Fund put out the anti-Islamic film O.bsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West, which characterized Islam as a terrorist dogma. The Obsession DVD was distributed for free through major newspapers across the United States thanks to the Clarion Fund, originally a project of Aish HaTorah, a staunchly pro-Israel organization which helps send young Jewish Americans to Israel.

Clarion's address, according to Manhattan directory assistance, is the same address as Aish HaTorah International, a fundraising arm of Aish HaTorah. The Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah International are also connected to a group called HonestReporting, which produced Obsession. Honest-Reporting's 2006 tax return uses the same address.

On the matter of the shared staff between Aish HaTorah and the Clarion Fund, Rabbi Jack Moline was quoted as saying "It is distressing to me that they [Aish HaTorah] would continue to have someone who has promulgated such awful, awful stuff sitting on their board or staff.” In the chain links sited above (Aish HaTorah-Clarion Fund-Obsession Film-Aish HaTorah’s “Zion Award” to Howard Schlutz, Chairmen of Starbucks), should Chairmen Howard Schultz await an award from Dearborn residents next?

BOYCOTT STARBUCKS NOW!

Starbucks boycott in Dearborn is way overdue. Although the evidence of a Zionist-Starbucks link has been deliberately camouflage in recent years by Starbucks’ management, Starbucks’ Chairmen’s history of avid support to Israel accents the need for the boycott today. Chairmen Howard Schultz, the 1998 recipient of Aish HaTorah’s award did not receive such honors for his entrenchment in peace with justice for Palestinians and Israelis. Aish HaTorah, headquartered in the Old City of Jerusalem [internationally recognized as occupied territory], has been awarded 40 percent of the land facing the Western Wall by the government of Israel. Aish HaTorah champions the return of Jewish youth to Israel, thus continues to prop the exclusivist nature of Israel as an apartheid state shutting out Palestinians and depriving them en mass of their right of return to their historic homeland. Such right has been enshrined in international law and United Nations’ resolutions.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Israel's recent war on the occupied Gaza Strip brought death and destruction to Palestinians, and a windfall for war profiteers. Around the world, people are standing up and saying "No more" by boycotting and divesting from corporations that profit from Israel's human rights abuses.

· Fuses for several kinds of bombs used by the Israeli military, including the MK-80 series and GBU bombs, which Israel recently used in Gaza.

· The "Mountain Rose" communication system used by the Israeli military

· The "Wide Area Surveillance System" used along portions of the apartheid wall in the West Bank

· Thermal cameras and radar detection devices used in surveillance systems at 47 illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank

Sign our online pledge to boycott Motorola now, by clicking here. The Hang Up On Motorola boycott is the culmination of almost one year of dialogue with Motorola over their troublesome relationship with the Israeli military. Click here to learn more about how we've already engaged Moto.

Hang Up On Motorola is only one active BDS campaign in the United States. As we engage Motorola, we continue our divestment work targeting Caterpillar. An academic boycott of Israel has spread from Europe to Canada and now to the United States. There is also a growing movement to boycott the Batsheva dance company as they tour North America. Cultural and academic boycotts are an important part of the Palestinian civil society call for BDS campaigns, just as they played a vital role in isolating the South African apartheid regime.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Warwick University students have claimed a space on campus as an act in solidarity with the innocent victims from the Gaza conflict, and with the other groups in the UK which have taken similar action.

Their Demands

1. Warwick University should suspend all relations with companies which supply the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This includes BAE Systems, MBDA, QinetiQ and Rolls Royce.

2. That the University expresses its sorrow for the infringement of the right to education in the Gaza conflict, by releasing a statement to this effect, and by donating old computer equipment and textbooks to those universities in Gaza that were partially destroyed during the current Israeli military operation.

3. That the University fund and provide logistical support for a series of talks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

4. That there be no legal, financial, or academic measures taken against anyone involved in or supporting the sit-in. This extends to the Student's Union. Students involved should be guaranteed free movement in and out of the space.

Other universities in the country, including Birmingham, Essex, SOAS, LSE, Sussex, Oxford, Leeds, Manchester Met, Kings and Bristol have already seen occupations. Others are planned and will start at any moment.